As a part of the Blade Mountains, the Sakur Pass was an infamous name to those who thought of crossing the natural border. The Sakur Pass was notoriously cold, with snow bombarding and endangering even well-clothed hikers while avalanches threatened the rest. The Pass was so dangerous that no one in living memory ever made it over alive, even during the bright days of summer.

Ten years after the defeat of The Crawler at the hands of the mighty Hero of Brightwall, a group of Samarkandians, including Shan, Lin, and Kuvar attempted to cross the Sakur Pass in the dead of winter in an attempt to escape The Empress and the shadows that followed her command. As the shadows continued to pursue the refugee group, they gradually picked them off one by one, until only a handful remained from a group that started as two dozen. After Lin succumbed to the cold after saving Shan, the group agreed that they had to set up camp to rest, believing they at least outmaneuvered the shadows. This judgement proved to be a critical error, as the shadows caught up with the group and slaughtered all survivors except for Shan.

Sprinting alone through the howling darkness, the young Samarkandian collapsed after making it to the Mistpeak Mountains that covered Albion's eastern border. Found by passing Dwellers, who were in awe of Shan's survival skills, they quickly nursed him back to health before sending him to Bowerstone to warn the great Hero King of the resurgence of the Darkness.